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Man cleared of nightclub glassing incident

A FRIEND of former Swindon Town player Luke Rooney has been cleared of glassing a man in an unprovoked nightclub attack.

Joseph Bannan and some pals had come to see the winger play in the match against Port Vale which saw the Robins win the League Two championship in 2012.

But the 22-year-old was identified as the man who smashed a beer glass into the neck of a drinker in The Spot following a police appeal in the Adver and on TV’s This Morning.

Now, after a week long trial at Swindon Crown Court, a jury of eight women and four men cleared the pal of Rooney, who has since gone to Maidstone United, of any wrongdoing.

They had been told how Daniel Hale was left with blood pouring from the back of his head after he was attacked in the upstairs bar in the club.

Bannan, of Fawkham, said he and four pals had come down from Kent to see the game and stay at Rooney’s flat afterwards.

He said he was in the bar at the time of the incident in the Spot but was about 10 yards away and not involved. He was cleared of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, unlawful wounding and actual bodily harm to another man.